Moment of peace for Ukraine

Kiev, Ukraine – At football matches in Ukraine, the size of the crowd is determined by the capacity of the nearest shelter.

For the first time since the start of the all-out war in 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League will hold a full season with fans in attendance, as the martial law ban on public gatherings has been relaxed.

Despite the constant threat of air raids, Dynamo Kyiv supporters eagerly grab the 1,700 tickets available for every home match at the 16,000-seat Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium.

Many fans are eager to experience a rare moment of peace, free from the country’s traditionally intense sporting rivalry.

While the war forced Dynamo to move its home Europa League games to Hamburg, Germany, it uses its home stadium in Kiev for domestic league matches.

Vitalii Kozubra brought his 9-year-old son Makar to watch Dynamo, a title contender, take on Zorya Luhansk, a club displaced by Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine.

“Even though there is a war going on, this is something people can enjoy together,” Kozubra said, pointing to the friendly atmosphere in the stadium, where Zorya fans mingled with locals. Makar marveled at the difference between watching a game in person and watching it on television.

As the players entered the field, all 22 of them draped in Ukrainian yellow-and-blue flags, the crowd, including soldiers and families with children, erupted in applause.

The stadium was alive with the sound of the players’ effort and the thud of the ball. Children rushed to the sidelines for autographs drawn by the few foreign players from Brazil, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Panama who chose to stay despite the war.

Zorya wasn’t booed once.

Sirens and shelters

UKRAINE’S top league, consisting of sixteen teams, has managed to continue despite mounting challenges. The matches are scheduled for the early afternoon due to frequent power outages and the logistical challenges of traveling through Europe’s second-largest country during war.

When air raid sirens interrupt play (sometimes for hours), players and fans alike rush to shelters as alarms blare from loudspeakers and thousands of cell phones.

“This season we have been lucky in Kiev, with no air raid sirens during our home games,” said Dynamo club spokesman Andrii Shakhov. “But for away games it’s a different story…The longest we had was 4 1/2 hours because of four air raid sirens.”

Ukrainian footballers are subject to the draft at the age of 25, but clubs can apply for exemptions under business protection rules. Two teams are currently playing away from their home grounds permanently due to the war, amid wider disruptions, while two others withdrew after fighting started due to stadium damage.

The country’s football tradition dates back to the Soviet past, when the country was a football powerhouse and produced top players and coaches. In the 1980s, fan movements often became expressions of Ukrainian identity, defying Soviet authority.

After Ukraine declared its independence in 1991, football remained a source of national pride despite years of political and financial turmoil. Ukraine reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup and co-hosted the 2012 European Championships.

Rivalry is put aside

Domestically, supporter groups have put aside violent rivalries for more than a decade, since uniting to support protesters during the deadly uprisings against Russian influence from 2013 to 2014. They later organized military recruitment drives to fight in the ensuing wars.

‘Dexter’, a red-bearded Dynamo supporter and civilian contractor for the military, explained why the truce between rival fan groups still stands.

“It became necessary because we had to unite against a common enemy. These internal conflicts lost their relevance when people from rival fan groups ended up fighting together in the same military units,” he said as he walked with his dog along the banks of the Dnipro River.

He added that fan organizations are involved in nearly every aspect of the war effort, from active combat duties to fundraising, supporting veterans and providing technical skills such as computer programming to the military.

He and others serving or working with the armed forces spoke on condition that they could be identified only by their call signs, in accordance with Ukrainian military protocol.

Dynamo officials estimate that more than 80% of their pre-2022 fan base are now serving on the front lines in eastern Ukraine or performing other military duties.

Football fans in the front

EIGHT hours east of Kiev, in the Kharkov region bordering Russia, soldiers from the 3rd Assault Brigade played a match on a field near bombed buildings.

Many of these fighters had been recruited through football-related channels and acquaintances.

“Organized fans play a big role in this war because they are highly motivated,” said a soldier with the call sign “Shtahet,” a Dynamo supporter currently deployed.

Combat medic “Poltava” noted that football remains an essential morale booster.

“We get together whenever we can and rent spaces to play,” he said. “There is not much entertainment here, so football is our only joy.”

Back in Kiev, Dynamo fan “Escobar” was grateful to be able to attend a match while on leave at home before returning to the front.

“This is football, it’s a game,” said the soldier, in uniform and wearing a camouflage hat, after Dynamo’s 2-0 win over Zorya. “There are no bad feelings between the teams and it’s great to see such a friendly atmosphere.”

Vitaliy Buyalskyi and Maksym Braharu scored goals for Dynamo in the second half, and although Zorya’s players looked dejected as they left the field, they still received applause from the fans. AP

Image credits: AP